Augustine: Christianity before Christ

[lemondiesel]

Article: scribd.com/doc/12761150/Augustine-Speaks-of-a-Christianity-Before-Christ

Paragraphs that grabbed my attention:

Could this begin to explain why the life of this “Jesus Christ” in our Christian Bibles reads like so many other ancient “sungods” from nation to
nation down through history? It helps to know that this “sun” spoken of by the
Ancients as well as many Church Fathers is but the symbol of the “Living Energy
and Power (God)” that animates all life in the cosmos and thus this sun is but a
symbol “only” for the ONE God and His mediation and life-giving existence into
this physical realm in which we live.

Augustine says that this “True Religion” of God has been with man since the beginning of time and has illuminated
the intellects of the most ancient Sages, Prophets, Priests and Kings. It built the
foundation for every national religion, the tenets of which consisted of reformulation
of its universal ageless principles of knowledge and wisdom. This “True Religion” of
antiquity went under a variety of designations: Hermeticism in ancient Egypt;
Orphism in early Greece; Zoroastrianism in Persia; Brahmanism in India; Taoism
in China; Shintoism in Japan and China.

I would like to note that, I myself, am and have been a Hermeticist for 5 or so years… I have always noticed parallels between my beliefs and that of Christianity. I remember discussing my beliefs with someone on this forum a while back, but some how I was unconvincing to get an agreement of our common beliefs. Perhaps now, we can discuss these parallels.

As our studies advance we will see that Judaism is as close to Egyptian religion that we have existing in the world today, but that should not surprise the
student of Judaism since it is well known today that the Jews of the first century
were the “black-skinned” offspring of Ancient Egypt and parallels between
Egyptian religious truths and Judaism should be expected and are found.

Finally! This part actually is really, really, REALLY important. Last year, I was asked to write a paper for my Monotheistic Origin class. I only spent 6 months doing research and came up with many of the same conclusions provided in this paper.

This paragraph is important because one area of my research was archeological evidence. This evidence suggests that the Old Testament was created in 8th-6th century B.C.E. The most important parallel I found was the famous story of Moses. A closer reading of Manetho, Josephus Flavius, and the Old Testament will show that were were actually two Exoduses. The first was the Hyksos in 1600 BCE, which is an actual history event. Then the other exodus, which was a smaller one, involved Akhenaton who caused the exodus of 80,000 ill and dying, or “lepers”. The biblical Joseph tale describes the time between these two. This is the only explanation we can give to explain how Joseph became the Egyptian prime minister, with his royal connections.

Not only was Moses real, he was commander of the Egyptian army and a high priest to the Pharaoh of Akhenaten, who arguably could have been Moses brother Aaron.

Have you ever wondered by Akhenaten was the Egyptian pharaoh who established monotheism?

 

[lemondiesel]

I understand this is an iffy article source, but the idea it sparks makes for discussion.

There has so be at least one person.

Apple, Banana, Grape, Kiwi, Lemon, Lime, Melon, Orange, Pineapple, Strawberry, Tomato. So many. Each has its own very unique characteristics.

Yet they are similar enough to group them as Fruits. It is about finding what makes them similar.

In Egypt Ausar/Osiris was the man-god who was killed and brought back to life thus giving the world the first notion of"the Resurrection." Ausar then became the great Judge of the deceased. Auset/Isis,Ausar’s wife, was said to have become impregnated by her husband’s spirit while he was dead. She gave birth to a child named Heru/Horus in the world’s first “Immaculate Conception.” At his birth a host of deities and wisemen were said to
have honored him.

That doesn’t string any questions in you!?

 

[Elijah_Baley]

Oy vey … another victim of the Zeitgeist.

That there are similarities between the True Religion and all lesser religions is a matter of course: The Truth is written on the soul of every man, and every man seeks the Truth.

The eternal Truth revealed by Christianity that raises it to supemacy are not the details of a god’s resurrection — though only Christianity places this story in any prominence — but the redemption and forgiveness of sin.

Religion was proclaimed in 33 A.D. with such force that it echoed through all the ages since and preceding, but imitators are at best pale echoes.

 

[Pieman333272]

Rather than comment on Augustine, I feel I’d just point out something about your hypothesis - it is one amongst many. I myself have studied Monotheistic origins, though probably not as much as you, and am beginning to think the Zoroastrian Influence hypothesis for Judaism is accurate. This has no real effect on my faith (no doubts, that is, I still think God revealed himself to Moses on the mountain and Abraham beforehand), but that’s just me.

I have looked into the idea of Akhenaten starting Judaism/Monotheism but see some flaws from a comparative religion perspective rather than a historical one. If there were some historical evidence for this, I’d be happy to take a look with an open mind.

 

[Ismael]

Augustine says that this “True Religion” of God has been with man since the beginning of time and has illuminated
the intellects of the most ancient Sages, Prophets, Priests and Kings.

Yes because God has spoken to man since the beginning, that is the meaning of Augustine words.

He does not support the ludicrious ‘Zeitgeist’ ideas.

Could this begin to explain why the life of this “Jesus Christ” in our Christian Bibles reads like so many other ancient “sungods” from nation to
nation down through history?

He does not. If you compare the varius Myths, although there are some inevitable analogies, there are also very striking differences.

I’m sure there are a lot of threads that handle thhis subject in this forum already…

 

[fons_vitae]

Could this begin to explain why the life of this “Jesus Christ” in our Christian Bibles reads like so many other ancient “sungods” from nation to
nation down through history?

Were there that many sun deities that were carpenters?

 

[bogeydogg]

Any and all truth is God’s truth. Paul tells us all men know enough from nature ot acknowledge God but choose to worship idols (namely himself) instead. The Christian has no need to fear any other’s truth claims but instead should rely on God’s truth as the only truth that they may argue openly and in peace with all men acknowledging truth where they find it but without compromise.